ROBERT POLIDORI SELECTED PRESS PA UL KASMIN GALLERY Mesmerising Photographs of Frescoes in a Florentine Monastery Architectural photographer Robert Polidori turns his lens to the paintings of Fra Angelico in Florence – to beguiling effect Daisy Woodward March 19, 2018 The Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico, Cell 7, Museum of San Marco Convent, Florence, Italy, 2010© Robert Polidori, Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery Canadian-American photographer Robert Polidori has devoted much of his esteemed career to exploring the effects of time, nature and human intervention on buildings and landscapes. His works are both poetic and melancholy, his treatment of spaces reverent. He views rooms as “memory theatres”, and deftly employs his medium to elevate their status to that of precious relics, regardless of their current condition. His previous projects have spanned devastated New Orleans homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, through to the crumbling buildings of Havana, majestic in their faded splendour. Earlier this month, a 2010 series of Polidori’s photographs depicting the interior of the Convento di San Marco in Florence went on display at Paul Kasmin 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY Gallery in New York, allowing audiences the chance to enjoy the full power of the image-maker’s large-scale works in person. The Dominican-monastery-turned-museum invited Polidori to lens the celebrated frescoes of Renaissance painter and Dominican monk Fra Angelico which adorn many of its walls. Considered some of the most important paintings of the early Renaissance, these mesmeric, pastel-hued works, including the painter’s iconic depiction of The Annunciation, were designed not merely as story-telling devices, as was the purpose of paintings in the previous Byzantine period, but as tools for reflection. They depict the life of Christ with striking realism: the figures are fleshed out with flowing robes and realistic features, while architectural spaces are rendered in impressive perspective. For the monks living in the convent, they served as daily reminders of Christ’s mortal suffering and the universal condition of mankind. In his capturing of the frescoes, Polidori has explored their harmonious integration with the spaces they fill, while masterfully enhancing their beauty. The arch-like framing of The Mocking of Christ, for instance, is pleasingly mirrored by the shape of the doorway to its right, while the Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saints is lensed through a roundel in the wall of the adjoining room – a clever use of architectural detailing to enhance the painting’s visibility, which also makes for a particularly pleasing photograph. A sense of meditative calm pervades the series, an apt encapsulation of both the works’ intended function and Polidori’s unique ability to capture the essence of spaces and the history they’ve born witness to. Happy (zen) Monday! 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY Snapshot: ‘Fra Angelico/Opus Operantis’ by Robert Polidori The photographer’s work shows how the echoes of history resonate in architecture Kitty Grady MARCH 16, 2018 'The Capture of Christ by Fra Angelico, Cell 33, Museum of San Marco Convent, Florence, Italy' (2010) © Robert Polidori/Paul Kasmin Gallery Born in 1951, the Canadian-American photographer Robert Polidori is known for his large-scale colour images of architecture, urban environments and interior spaces. For a 2010 series, he was invited to photograph the frescoes of Italian Renaissance painter and Dominican friar Fra Angelico (1395-1455) that decorate the dormitories in the Convento di San Marco in Florence. Commissioned by Cosimo de Medici, the devotional works — depicting scenes from the life of Christ — were made to enhance meditation and prayer. Polidori’s photographs show how the echoes of history resonate in architecture. His contemplative images also illuminate how interior spaces act as boundless containers for memory and emotion. 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY 'The Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico, Cell 7, Museum of San, Marco Convent, Florence, Italy' (2010) © Robert Polidori/Paul Kasmin 'Adoration of the Magi and Man of Sorrows by Fra Angelico, Cell 39, Museum of San Marco Convent, Florence, Italy' (2010) © Robert Polidori/Paul Kasmin 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY 'Crucifixion with Longinus by Fra Angelico, Museum of San Marco Convent, Florence, Italy' (2010) © Robert Polidori/Paul Kasmin 'Crucifixion with the Virgin and Sts Cosmas, John the Evangelist and Peter Martyr by Fra Angelico' (2010) © Robert Polidori/Paul Kasmin Gallery 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY 'Crucifixion with Saint Dominic prostrate on the floor, by Fra Angelico, Museum of San Marco Convent, Florence, Italy' (2010) © Robert Polidori/Paul Kasmin 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY Getty Center celebrates 20th anniversary with Robert Polidori photographs exhibition 2017 Robert Polidori (Canadian / French / American, born 1951), European Painting 1850-1900 Gallery, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997. Chromogenic print. Image: 41.6 × 54.6 cm (16 3/8 × 21 1/2 in.) Sheet: 47.6 × 60.3 cm (18 3/4 × 23 3/4 in.) Accession No. EX.2017.11.21 © Robert Polidori Object Credit: Courtesy of the artist in conjunction with The Lapis Press. LOS ANGELES, CA.- In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Getty Center, the J. Paul Getty Museum opens an exhibition of 20 works by renowned photographer Robert Polidori (Canadian-French-American, born 1951). Robert Polidori: 20 Photographs of the Getty Museum, 1997 is the first public exhibition of photographs showing the first installation of the Getty Center in the month leading up to its opening in December 1997. “As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Getty Center this December, this exhibition provides an opportunity to reflect upon the creation of this remarkable complex of buildings and the evolution of the Getty Center’s programs. Polidori’s artfully composed images are not only an important historical record, but also a revealing insight into the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the preparation and installation of our exhibitions and displays,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM PA UL KASMIN GALLERY Highly regarded for his depictions of human habitats and cultural museology, Polidori produced these intimate and unstaged views of the Getty Center in fall 1997 while on assignment for The New Yorker. Initially limited to surveying the exterior grounds because of restricted access, he lobbied successfully for permission to photograph the Center’s indoor spaces as well. Polidori ultimately produced about 60 exposures of the gardens, entrance hall, galleries, and various spaces across the site. Working in what he called an “old analogical way” with a large-format camera and Kodak Vericolor film, Polidori created this group of photographs at a moment when digital photography was gaining momentum, embraced by amateur and professional photographers alike. This exhibition features a selection of photographs Polidori made of interior spaces within the Getty Museum, work he generated while in the midst of a multi- year project to document period rooms undergoing restoration at the Palace of Versailles. Many of the images reveal the process of installing objects from J. Paul Getty’s painting, sculpture, and decorative arts collections in the new galleries, some of which remain on display today. A book titled Synchrony and Diachrony, published by Steidl and featuring texts by Polidori, David Dorenbaum (psychoanalyst and assistant professor at the University of Toronto), and Amanda Maddox (associate curator, Department of Photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum), will be released on the occasion of the exhibition. "The labors made semi-evident in these photographs—showing brief glimpses of seemingly chaotic states, slowly evolving towards a structured order, resembling tableaus and portraying scenes seen as occurring behind a curtain—were attempts on my part to bring some phenomenological trace, as well as psychological depth, to a subject matter that essentially is usually invisible: the portraiture of the curatorial act,” says Robert Polidori. 293 & 297 TENTH AVENUE 515 WEST 27TH STREET TELEPHONE 212 563 4474 NEW YORK, NY 10001 PAULKASMINGALLERY.COM October 2016 Robert Polidori explores ‘auto-constructed’ cities in his first show at Paul Kasmin Gallery September 21, 2016 Gritty, urban photographs envelop the viewer at photographer Robert Polidori’s inaugural show at Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York City. Pictured: Dharavi #1, Mumbai In photographer Robert Polidori’s inaugural show at the Paul Kasmin Gallery – entitled 'Ecophilia / Chronostasis' – gritty, urban photographs completely envelop the viewer, blocking the surrounding trendy Chelsea neighborhood. Polidori uses ‘dendritic’ to describe the industrial sprawl captured in this series – a term that more commonly refers to the branching extensions of a biological structure such as a cell or a tree. This is the first time Polidori’s 2007 ‘dendritic’ series is being shown in the United States. In it, the photographer, known for capturing post-disaster scenes in Chernobyl, New Orleans and Havana, turns his lens on Amman, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro. ‘These "auto constructed" cities are constructed (as the term implies) by the inhabitants themselves,’ Polidori says. ‘I began the series in 1996 when I chanced upon the auto-constructed settlements in Jabal al Qal'a [Amman Citadel].